


I Promise You, When I'm Awake

by navaan



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: Captain America: Steve Rogers (2016), Civil War II: The Oath, Hydra Steve Rogers, Inspired by Fanart, Love Confessions, M/M, Obsessive Behavior, Secret Empire (Marvel), Twisted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-29 20:41:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11448681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/pseuds/navaan
Summary: Steve thinks he's crushing the resistance and the copy of himself that Tony left behind. But comatose or not - Tony might not be finished with this world.





	I Promise You, When I'm Awake

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Cap IM Tiny RB Round 1: Silver](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11366781) by [MassiveSpaceWren](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MassiveSpaceWren/pseuds/MassiveSpaceWren). 



> [Cap-IM Tiny Reverse Bang Round 1: SILVER](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11366781)
> 
> Ties in with the Captain America: Steve Rogers (2016) and Secret Empire run. Be HEAVILY warned on that account.

Exactly two weeks after he'd ordered the destruction of the secret resistance hideout that Clint had built he went through all the reports. At the time of the attack he'd made sure that the AI Tony had created by uploading his consciousness at the moment of his death had been there and would be targeted first. That copy of Tony had become as much of a nuisance as he'd expected the real Iron Man to be once he started his take-over, before the man had been punched into a coma.

Even though his informant had assured him Tony and his team had given up on looking for shards of the cosmic cube, it had been time to stomp out the dissenters. Steve could no longer tolerate the resistance. There was no room for doubters in their new world order.

The teams he'd sent in after the base had been destroyed found armor parts in the debris and Steve had no trouble recognizing the model immediately. He'd liked that armor. He'd been close friends with the man hiding behind the face plate of that one for years. Even now thinking back brought a smile to his face.

Tony had always been complicated. His feelings for Tony had always been complicated. And even now, Steve missed him. 

He'd had so many plans for Tony and Iron Man and thoughts of him always came with equal parts of anger and regret.

"Any sign of what happened to the Stark AI?" he asked.

"No helmet was found," Zemo said. "We think it was destroyed, but we don't know if anyone got away and..."

"Clint," Steve said and the name of his old friend left a bitter taste on his tongue. "There is no sign of him here. If he got out, they might have a way to recover the AI."

Helmut nodded. 

_Iron Man_ had made sure as many rebels as possible got away and had deliberately risked his own destruction. If what had been left of Tony had really gone out with a bang, allowing at least some of his compatriots to escape, that would have been fitting. Truly like the man had been in life. Secretly, he hoped that somehow the copy of Tony's consciousness had survived, but after two weeks he was sure they would have found a trail, a sign, would have heard of a rumor. 

Once again, it felt like Tony had escaped him before they'd had their final confrontation.

He wanted to snort at his own sentimentality and could imagine very well what Tony would have thought of him if he'd been able to see him now. 

But when Helmut had left, it took him only a couple of minutes to make up his mind and before he could think better of it his steps carried him down the corridors of his Helicarrier. 

_Sentimentality_ , he thought. _He won't wake up, whatever I tell him now. Whatever he did to himself, it's not enough to bring him back to me._

He passed the guards close to the vault, nodded at them, and used his own code and fingerprints to get himself through the next few doors. It had become a soothing ritual on the exceptionally stressful days to walk down here, go through all the security levels he'd ordered to be put in place, and finally find himself alone with Tony, who was trapped in his half-life state.

It was soothing to tell him the _truth_ sometimes. Very often it made him nothing but angry. But even that was cleansing. He'd wanted to tell him all this when he could still talk back, challenge him, but...

He reached the last door of the vault. He had his hand up already to enter the required password and start the retina scan, when he noticed. 

Something had changed.

The position of the interface. Cables were showing, like the device had been pulled from the vault and put back. 

But the only one who was supposed to ever come this far was Steve - and he hadn't done it. Suddenly in a hurry, he pulled the vault door open, practically stormed forward and hoped to see Tony's still face, unconscious and dead to the world.

The vault that was supposed to hold Tony's body was empty.

He stared at the open capsule in silence, rooted to his spot by the door. 

The sound of his fist putting a dent in the wall was loud enough to be heard a floor down.

* * *

Things changed rapidly after that. And Steve would have been lying if he'd said it didn't rattle him. The Iron Man armor turned up again suddenly, fighting Hydra wherever it was convenient and public. The AI must have been recovered or must have been smart enough to slip away using information networks. New York and its heroes put itself back on the map as suddenly and none of his people could explain how it happened without warning that the city had shaken the darkness that should have been permanent. But Eliza warned him the Strange and Doom had joined forces to keep her magical influence back and that this could not be a good sign.

"They are regrouping, Steven," she warned and squeezed his fingers. "You've been distracted."

And he had been. Tony's body had been stolen from right under his nose. There was no way that Clint and whatever was left of his resistance or Natasha and her group of kids had managed to walk into the Helicarrier and take the body of Tony Stark without anyone noticing. He'd run through all the steps, gone over all the evidence, and he still didn't know how they'd gotten Tony out. Traitors were the only explanation.

And why had they stolen Tony? He was no use to anyone anymore.

Then the name "Rick Jones" started appearing all over the place and Steve's attention was drawn away from his hunt for Clint.

Rick Jones, the friend he'd been forced to execute, was suddenly back in the game and _alive_. It seemed like a clever ploy, and impossible occurrence that could be nothing bust subterfuge, until the Winter Soldier was filmed blowing up a Hydra-carrier over Los Angeles - leaving the scene together with Black Widow and even saluting the cameras before they slipped out of sight.

"Impostor," Helmut suggested. "Barnes died. He exploded with that missile he was strapped to."

Steve didn't need the reminder.

"It's him," he disagreed. "I don't know how or why, but it's him." 

Bucky was back with Natasha and however that had happened, it was a danger he could not ignore.

"Do me a favor? Set Tony on the wanted list, just in case. I want that body back in the vault and I want that AI destroyed this time. For good."

Helmut nodded before leaving him.

That night he checked the shards of the cosmic cube they had gathered and they were all accounted for. There was no way the resistance was using the cube. So how where they doing it? How had they brought back the dead?

"We have a trace of Clint Barton, sir. In Seattle."

He dressed in the Captain America uniform and assembled his Avengers. Today he was getting to the heart of it. There was no room for failure. Finding out the trail was leading to an empty warehouse came as a bit of a disappointment. He'd wanted this showdown to be public and fitting.

"No life signs," an underling informed him on the Helicarrier.

"I'm going in first," he decided and nobody dared question him.

He wasn't even surprised to find himself in a defunct Stark Industries warehouse. The plot was thickening. Perhaps Natasha and Clint had joined forces again and were trying to get their hands on some of Tony's secrets here. It would make sense in the light of their recent body snatching. Tony had always been paranoid and Steve knew he'd had hideouts and secret workshops in different locations across the globe, because Tony could never be sure he wouldn't one day need them.

Steve made his way up to the offices, the only place where any furniture was left. But that wasn't why he slowed his steps now. The power was cut off for the whole building, but a light was coming from the biggest office upstairs.

Carefully he closed in and pushed the door open. A computer - older than anything that Tony would have chosen for himself - was set up neatly, and a number of monitors were all showing different feeds. There was nobody in the room though and it didn't look like anyone had been here in a while.

A number of names, all from their most wanted lists flashed on a monitor to one side. Iron Man was at the top of the list. Then the monitor in the middle switched on by itself.

"Hello Steve," Tony said.

His heart missed a beat. It must be a recording. It wasn't him. The man was dead and this was not a projection. This was a solid human being. Tony Stark in the flesh.

"Thank you for coming. I know you're not usually someone to follow the breadcrumbs when you're busy. But this is as important to you as it is to me."

In the recording he looked tired but good. Healthy. 

"I thought you should know," Tony continued. "I honestly thought it was time that you knew. After all back in that room on the Helicarrier you told me everything, didn't you? You came again and again and told me the truth. I owe you as much."

He stood rooted to the spot and let that information sink in. If any of this was true...

"You said you wanted me to wake up, wanted me to see your glorious victory. Although, I guess, I'm paraphrasing. You wanted me to realize how many mistakes we... _I_ made by forgetting about the people. I have to admit, considering Vegas, I'm not sure I see your point there. Buuuuuut.."

He balled his fists. Tony was making sure to mention facts that left no doubt that this was not a recording.

Steve activated his comms and ordered: "There is a broadcast running. Track it."

Tony smiled at him suddenly, softer and friendlier than should be possible. "Do that," he conceded and Steve realized that this connection went both ways. "After all what you wanted me to do is wake up and try and stop you. Here I am. Trying to stop you. Because that's what the real you would want me to do too."

Steve stared.

"So," Tony continued when he didn't say anything. "He loved me, huh? The you you've discarded? He loved me?"

He balled his fists tighter, opened them and closed them, and clenched his jaw. 

"You don't need to answer, Steve. I heard you well enough." Tony was still smiling softly and he wanted nothing more than to wipe that expression off his face. Right now he wanted anger and arguments. He wanted to make his point and destroy Tony with his own conflicted emotions. But _Tony_ looked calm. "I love you too, you know? It's always been true. Even when I fought you. Even when you disagreed with me. It's always going to be true. I love the man you really are."

"Even now?" he asked and made sure to not flinch away from Tony's gaze.

"Even now, Steve. Ask yourself why it was so important to rant at me if it's not true for you too."

The voice from his communicator said: "Keep the connection open, supreme leader. We are still tracking."

 _Don't bother_ , he thought. Tony wouldn't be talking if he had no way to throw them off.

"Don't delude yourself," he hissed.

"Ah," Tony said. "I'm quite good at that. Everyone is telling me so all the time. But here's the point. You betrayed us. You betrayed everyone. Rick figured out why and you told me how. It's all out in the open anyway. But I love you. And Rick trusts the real Captain America and your friends Barnes and Wilson want their great mentor back - and Clint thinks he wants to talk to the real Steve, just to tell you he came to save your ass despite everything. But, yeah, I love you. I'm coming to save you, whether you want me to or not and for once everyone is in agreement."

"How did you...?"

"Rick and Barnes? Time travel is a powerful thing," Tony said and he was holding something in one hand. A stone. A gem. A fucking infinity gem. Not the time gem, though. He was letting him see this to let him know he had his own weapons lined up. "Victor helped with the time travel. He can be very helpful when he tries. I'm going to stop you now, Steve. Because you would want me to, if you hadn't been warped. Because I love you and it's time we talk about that without the word falling apart around us or one of us going evil. It's just time, don't you think? Because you love me too."

His fist flew out before he could stop himself. 

The monitor shattered.

"Come and try," he dared.

"We lost the signal," his people informed him.

"Don't worry," he said and straightened himself. "This wasn't the last we saw of the resistance."

Finally he allowed himself a tight half-smile. Tony was alive. Here was his chance to truly win, to put everyone in their place. _He thinks he needs to save me. Let me show him how wrong he is._

He wasn't sure he could still be heard, but he whispered: "I'm coming for you. I'm coming for all of you. And you better be ready to give me a real fight. Because you love me and I deserve your best. But know that if you lose - I will still _make_ you give me your best. I'll be waiting. Hurry up and try and stop me."

The names on the monitor beside him vanished and the message there read: "Ready or not here I come. Who is off balance now?"

He swallowed hard and straightened his shoulders and scowled at the words, before he walked out. 

There was work to do. Tony thought he stood a chance, but that had never been the case. Steve knew him too well and he would want to save Steve more than to defeat him. _Now_ things were going to get interesting.

Finally, Tony had listened to him and woken up.

He'd reward him with giving him his full attention.

Finally, he could make Tony see that his arrogance would be his downfall. And there still was a vault with a name on it, that would work just as well as a prison cell.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Saving You (The Promises Kept Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12137631) by [laireshi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/laireshi/pseuds/laireshi)




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